PARIS—Airbus executives appear to be expecting a less than smooth ride as they negotiate the next stage of development for the pan-European Future Combat Air System (FCAS).
Earlier phases of the trinational combat aircraft development program between France, Germany and Spain faced delays because of bickering between Airbus and Dassault Aviation over workshare.
Now, with the €4.5 billion ($4.9 billion) Phase 2 approaching in 2026 paving the way to develop several demonstrators including a flying demonstrator, a sensor testbed and a demonstrator powerplant, Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury hinted that the transition from Phase 1B to Phase 2 is “not going to be easy.”
Speaking ahead of the Paris Air Show here on June 13, Faury told journalists that the industrial partners on the project were in an environment that is “quite fast changing in terms of technologies” and that there were “different perspectives on the role that each company wants to play.”
“We are entering those discussions, and we want to give it a positive look ... we want it to work and that’s the mindset on our side,” Faury said.
Dassault boss Eric Trappier told French lawmakers in April that he continues to have doubts about the structuring of the program as it moves into Phase 2.
Mike Schoellhorn, the CEO of Airbus Defense and Space, said FCAS’ mix of technologies—combining crewed combat aircraft with uncrewed air systems and a combat cloud network—remains the right approach for the future, and that this had been confirmed by recent air battles including between India and Pakistan.
“We stand by this program, and we have committed ourselves to this program,” Schoellhorn said, noting that it ticks numerous boxes, including addressing the fragmentation of European defense.
“I remain optimistic that everybody will at the end look at it in the same way, that might still need some work,” Schoellhorn added.
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